Introducing a new cat...

[lsanders]

We've had our two cats, Albus and Luna, for several years now.  They were both adopted from the shelter I volunteer at.  Albus is 11 and Luna is 7.  They're like brother and sister- very bonded, affectionate with each other, occasional spats, but nothing lasting more than a minute or two.  

Last week, on August 19th, we took in a third cat.  One of my friends has a two-year-old son who was recently diagnosed with cancer and is going through chemo.  Because the chemo depletes his immune system, they have to reduce his exposure to germs as much as possible, so they couldn't keep their cat, MeowMeow (we're calling her Charlie, which was her name when they adopted her) at least until their son is done with chemo.  Charlie was staying with my friend's mother-in-law without any incidents for several weeks, but the day before we took her, Charlie hissed at her and she felt threatened and told my friend that she had to find a new place for her or she was going to have her put to sleep or drop her off in the woods (

 Just what you want to hear when you're already going through a rough time, right?!?!?)

We brought her home Wednesday night- we put her in our extra bedroom with her litterbox, food, water, toys.  She has a futon to sit on, a window to look out of.  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we kept her separated from Albus and Luna.  We put Albus & Luna's scratching pad in the room with Charlie and Charlie's carrier in the living room so they could get used to each other's smells.  Albus & Luna were interested in what was going on in that bedroom, so they'd occasionally come up and stand in the hallway.  Charlie could tell they were out there and she'd start hissing.  She wasn't aggressive towards us at all- she'd be purring, rubbing her face against my hand, turn her head and hiss, then go back to rubbing her face on me.  My guess is that she hasn't been around other cats before- my friend adopted her as a kitten, so being an only-cat is all she's known.  It was like she was just confused about all the upheaval in her life and hissing was the only way she could express it (and understandably so.)

Anyway, on Saturday, we stacked three baby gates in the doorway of the bedroom, one on top of the other, essentially creating a screen door.  The plan was to open the door to the bedroom so they could all see each other but no touching.  I was planning on doing that for a few days, depending on how it was going.  A few hours into the experiment, I was hanging out in the bedroom with her.  I'd left the middle baby gate out so I could climb through.  She didn't seem too interested in getting out of the room, so I didn't worry about it.  After about 45 minutes with the middle gate being down, she made a break for it.  I decided to just see how it played out.  

I supervised while she explored around the house.  Albus and Luna were sitting in the living room, looking out the window.  Charlie came in and started hissing.  She didn't charge at them or anything, just had that defensive pose with her back arched, ears back, etc.  Albus and Luna just looked at her, like, "what the heck is her problem?!?!?" but didn't hiss back or approach her.  I distracted her and shooed her along.  She did that a couple more times and I decided that was enough and put her back in the bedroom with the gates up.  

We let her out for a little while on Sunday and again today.  Albus and Luna continue to be cool as cucumbers.  They usually just sort of observe her and don't react unless she initiates it.  She'll hiss and/or charge at them without getting closer than a couple feet, so there hasn't been any physical contact.  

So, I guess I'm looking for suggestions to make this process easier on all of them.  Now that she's had a taste of freedom, she wants to be out of the bedroom most of the day- sometimes she'll jump back in there herself; sometimes I decide she needs a "time out".  She's going to be here at least until January, when my friend's son has a bone marrow transplant, if all goes as planned.

 

[losna]

I think it sounds like things are going amazingly well for such a fast introduction. A few days is really rushing things quite a bit! Perhaps at this point you can help things along by giving them treats all together? Group play time? Perhaps try feliway diffusers as well.

You can click the link in my signature for a helpful article on introducing cats.

@Columbine has a helpful list of more links, maybe she'll wander on through and provide them!

But I'd say that it really sounds like a pretty good deal, after only a few days. Unless things worsen, it sounds to me like if you keep encouraging them and keep a careful eye on interactions, they'll be getting along before too long.

 

[Columbine]

I'm here

Losna has some great advice. The main thing with introductions is to take it slow, stay patient and let the cats dictate the pace.

[article="32680"][/article][article="29726"][/article][article="29658"][/article][article="32804"][/article][article="30274"][/article][article="30316"][/article]

 

[losna]

Losna has some great advice.

I do have some experience now..

Hopefully it will help. I know the pains of wanting your cats to get along. Oh boy do I know...

At least for Sinbad and Tempest, the keys are food/treats and 'family time' with mommy and daddy.

 

[lsanders]

Yes, I will try the treats idea.  I forgot to say that I did put Albus & Luna's dry food up in the hallway so they'd have a reason to go up there.

I would do the Feliway thing, but we tried a diffuser with Albus & Luna when we moved a couple years ago and Albus was one of those cats that had a bad reaction to it.  It was like a bad drug trip!  Not good!  I did get a Feliway collar the day we brought Charlie home, thinking if she was really crazy, like what my friend's mother-in-law was making it sound like, I would put that on her and hope the phermones wouldn't waft out of the bedroom too much and irritate Albus.  When we picked her up last week, though, she was not crazy.  I think the MIL is just not an animal person and overreacted to the whole thing.  But whatever- she's better off with us anyway.

When I posted originally, Charlie was cryyyyying upstairs to be let out, but she's since calmed down, so I don't feel too bad about leaving her in there.  I'm curious about giving them catnip together (with the baby gate in between them), but I'm not sure how she reacts to it, and I'm not sure how any of them react to it under stressful situations.  I'll probably hold off on that.

 

[lsanders]

So, another week later, things aren't much better.  I tried giving Charlie a little catnip (just her, not Albus & Luna at that same time) and she didn't get crazy, but she didn't really get mellow, so I think we'll avoid using that with everyone at the same time.  I haven't been able to give them treats simultaneously because it's hard to get three cats, one of whom doesn't like the other two, to be close enough for that experiment.  Also, Luna's not food-motivated and she's skittish, so it would be difficult to catch her and then get her to stay up in the hallway for treats she's not really interested in.  

When Charlie's in her room, behind the gates, freaking out when they come up for dry food, Albus & Luna are pretty non-reactive.  When I let Charlie out to get some freedom, she doesn't really harrass Albus, probably be cause he outweighs her by a good 6-7 pounds.  She'll hiss at him if she sees him, but won't pursue him.  If she sees Luna, who's about her same size, she'll start hissing and growling, and will chase her and corner her.  Luna is definintely more "flight" than "fight", so she just tries to get away.  

I don't think Luna's traumatized from the few times this has happened- she's a pretty resilient cat- but I don't want to keep putting her through that.  

I have one of those mesh tents that I put out in the backyard for Albus to sit in (Luna's scared of outside, so she doesn't enjoy it.)  I was thinking of setting it up in the living room, but I'm not sure if I should put Albus and Luna in it, or Charlie?  Or if it would help or make things worse regardless of who's in it.  If I put Albus and Luna in it, I'm afraid Charlie will try to attack them through the mesh and they'll feel trapped.  But putting Charlie in it seems like it wouldn't be any better than her being in the bedroom.  

I'm tempted to put that Feliway collar on Charlie to help her settle down, but if it emanates too much pheromone and sets off Albus, I'm going to be annoyed that I wasted it (I was going to donate it to the shelter).

Ideas?

 

[Columbine]

An extra week still isn't all that long. You have to chill about the whole process, and go at the cats' pace. It will take as long as it takes.

I don't advise using a pheromone collar on anybody if Albus reacts so badly to Feliway. It's just too big a risk. I don't advise using the tent either - there's just too great a chance that someone will break through. They're not strong enough to start up to determined claws.

If Luna tends to get cornered, its really important to make sure that there's not place this can happen. Block off behind and under things, and use vertical space to turn dead ends into escape routes.

If you feel you need to look at trying calming remedies, try Spirit Essences, or even Composure (though I very much doubt they'd all need the latter). Just like people, cats find lavender calming, so that might be worth trying as a Feliway substitute.

Stay patient - they will get past this. It'll just take time.